I have a great appreciation for craftsmanship. Be it in a uniquely designed motorcycle or automobile, a fine watch, a classic guitar, or simply a well made table. Seeing beautiful lines carefully wrought or feeling the precision in perfect engineering each conveys both the heart and the mind of the craftsman.

While often crude in my delivery, I strive to “craft” the words I write, the machines I build or the work I do. I take pride in the things I do from the smallest to the largest. Often the craft is in the execution as much as it is in the product.

America was once the home to many fine craftsmen, and yes many still exist today.

However, in many subtle ways we are slipping into the lure of the mass made. Price point and production has overcome craftsmanship in many cases. We are cheapening America.

Today I had to return two items that I purchased, probably at least 30 years ago. They both bore testament to precision engineering and fine craftsmanship. They have served me well in that time on more occasions that I can easily count. They have been constant companions through the years and something I have come to rely upon due to their finely wrought workmanship.

The thing about something that is well made by a true craftsman, especially something mechanical, is that they are often accompanied by something fantastic.

The lifetime warranty!

Now, the lifetime warranty is counter-intuitive in the throw away society we live in. It is the hallmark in the business world of a loss of revenue. You see, if it is cheaply made and easily replaced then a company never has to fix anything. We simply buy another one and move on.

But you see; things that are well made and backed mean that we may only buy one and only return should it need replacing. The maker or manufacturer is accepting that you will only ever buy one of said item.

However, this too is a fallacy. You see, when a thing is well made we want more. We are willing to both pay more for this item, and we are typically willing to come back to the maker to buy more of his well made and backed items.

Yes, if it is the only item the maker has, then he is screwing himself to ever only sell one of his items to you and then bear the cost of replacement henceforth.

But if he makes other wonderfully crafted items that are well made and expected to last a lifetime. Well then, we are apt to buy these other things as well.
Such has been the case with my purchases of Craftsman tools from Sears. I have bought many, many Craftsman tools you see. I have done so because they are very finely crafted and backed by a lifetime warranty. I have come to expect that they will do the job at hand well and last in the doing.

But today, when I took two of my socket wrenches back which had (after 30 years) decided to stop ratcheting a drawer behind the counter was opened and two refurbished wrenches laid upon the counter.

Now, you may say, “Awesome, take them and Bob’s your uncle, you got two replacement ratchets.” Which would, in theory, be true.

However, when I bought said ratchets 30 years ago, Craftsman’s lifetime warranty always meant when you brought it back broken you got a brand new ratchet.

Yes, I know I may be being persnickety here and I understand that the wrench itself was perfectly in tact. Only the ratchet mechanism needed to be rebuilt. Which was exactly what I was being handed.

But when I bought these wrenches the Sears of that time had a simple rule. It broke, you got a new one.

30 years is a long time for something used as frequently as I have used these wrenches to last. They have been true and faithful for all that time. I simply wanted Sears to be true and faithful in their replacement.

Thus, the new ones I get to replace them will either be passed along or buried with me (which is a high probability, I really love these wrenches).

So I was a bit miffed when I was handed the “refurbished” ratchets.

I feel I had a pact with Sears in good faith that the money I spent would assure me a new replacement should my wrenches go bad. Which I must say few ever have of the many I have. Which brings me back to the point about buying more of a given thing from a maker who truly crafts a product. I brought back two, I have at least four more of different sizes to compliment the two in question. These along with so many other Craftsman products that it is a bit embarrassing to say.

I wanted not a cheapened refurbished wrench, but a new and shining example of the fine craftsmanship of the two I originally purchased. Not a warmed over piece.

Now, my story has a happy ending. After a bit of discussion with the sales associate (who was clearly not as seasoned in years as my wrenches), we came to an amenable solution;

I got two new wrenches.

Sears stood behind their lifetime replacement warranty as I had interpreted it so many years before and I now have two replacement wrenches that will (most likely) outlive me.

Craftsmanship still exist in America as long as we do not cheapen it with the warmed over. As long as we respect the words on the page from 30 years ago that promised, in good faith, a proper response.

Long live the true Craftsmen!